Malaysian Moto2: Bradl Tops Friday

Stefan Bradl was the quickest Moto2 rider of the day at Sepang in Malaysia with Aleix Espargaró and Dominique Aegerter in second and third. Bradl’s Championship rival Marc Márquez elected to sit out the afternoon session in order to fully recover after a crash in the morning run.

Viessmann Kiefer Racing’s Bradl edged Espargaró (Pons HP 40) by two-hundredths of a second for the top spot in the final practice of the day and was a tenth quicker than FP1 leader Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) with a best effort of 2’08.464.

Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing Moto2) stepped up to the fourth spot for the day with a best lap of 2’08.594, a margin of 0.015s ahead of Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) who completed the top five with a best lap of 2’08.609.

Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) was seven-thousandths off the Swiss rider in sixth, with Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project) just behind Australian GP winner De Angelis. Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) was eighth for the day with a time of 2’08.970, followed by Claudio Corti (Italtrans Racing) and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) who completed the top ten.

There were no fewer than 11 crashes in the session, with a highside for Ricky Cardús (QMMF Racing Team) resulting in a fractured left wrist for the Spanish rider which means he will be unable to ride on Sunday.

Following a crash in a wet Turn 10 in the first practice outing, Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) decided to sit out the second free practice session in order to fully recover for Saturday’s FP3 and QP. Jules Cluzel (NGM Forward Racing) and Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing) also both went down in the same corner at the same time, with Smith suffering a fractured collarbone and a chest contusion and therefore unable to continue this weekend.

Following the incident, Race Direction deemed the marshals had not displayed the appropriate flag at Turn 10 and a decision was made to fine the organiser €15,000.